Social Distance Impacts Introverts, Too

It’s pretty clear to me people are on edge at the moment. We’re a divided nation out of our own national stupidity. The way to solve this is to be social. And try to do it in as safe as a manor as possible. But when you’re an introvert and you’ve spent the bulk of 18 months (or whatever it’s been) isolated…suddenly socializing (especially 1:1) can be incredibly draining because there is no “tolerance” for it. This is what I have experienced lately in making a new connection with someone…and then spending hours with that person in the car…twice!

I’m such a creature of habit. So I get into a routine and some of my routines in life have been better and more healthy than others. I tend to eat really well. But it can also be habit forming to not eat well and slip up and slip up more…and then you have to do a cleanse, and really do it. I have fortunately found out that I am able to change lifestyles on a dime if I want to. I quit smoking cold turkey (I was up to a half pack a day and saw where it was going) when I was 25, and I went “primal” in 2010 which was a total 180 in terms of what I had been doing and I went from 235 to 170 (maybe 167?) in 3 months and I’ve kept that going ever since.

But throwing a person into a social activity has just been draining. Not a bad feeling, just mental exhaustion. I picked the 1st (Friday) and 4th (Monday) to take off from work to use up some hours that I will lose (in the sense they won’t carry over, they’ll get paid out) before the end of the year. But it’s clear I’ll need them to play catch-up so it was very smart and I didn’t know I would really need the extra time.

I am going to guess that different levels of introversion are going to experience a different level of “tolerance” from the last 18 months. So for everyone out there feeling a bit overwhelmed in social situations…I’m feeling you.